Location of ONT and router

[#1]

Hi

I am preparing to switch to full fibre.  As I understand it there will be a small box on the outside of the house, an ONT inside and a router.  My questions are

1) can the ONT be placed maybe 5 metres from the outside box and in the loft as the cable entry is from telegraph pole level

2)   can the router be located downstairs if I provide an ethernet cable from the ONT to the router location

Thanks

Philip

[#2]

@PhilH9 Is the loft fully boarded and easily accessible? If it is, the engineer may agree to install it there - if there is a power point available, as the ONT is powered. You will need to to discuss this with them on the day.

The router can be anywhere you want, providing you have a route for the Ethernet cable.

[#3]

@PhilH9 What you want is theoretically possible but not the normal installation method for full fibre. The external box (CSP) is normally located near ground level so Openreach can use their equipment to splice the fibre, this can't be done up a ladder.

Also they aren't keen on working in lofts, it has to fully boarded and lit and obviously needs power for the ONT.

The router can go anywhere using an ethernet cable connection.

However I have seen reports of installations with an internal CSP and ONT mounted in a loft, how customers manage to achieve this I don't know as it is unusual.

[#4]

@RealAleMadrid Good point about the splicing, although I didn't see my installer do it, he didn't appear to have any large/heavy kit with him.

[#5]

@PhilH9 

If there's power in the loft for both ONT and router then it might be possible. It's one of these where you just don't know until the day of install when you discuss the installion with the engineer. They might be happy to bring the fibre down to ground level for the CSP and then back up to the loft. Or, as has been stated, if there's easy access to the loft and it's floored they might put both there. You just don't know.

As the router connects via ethernet it can go anywhere you're happy to run cable.

Brian

[#6]

@PhilH9 

With CAT 5e Ethernet cable you can connect the router anywhere within 100m of the ONT, so the location of the router is irrelevant unless you live in a stately home.

The fibre does not have to enter the property in the same place as the existing copper, so why not ask for it to be brought down to ground level externally? I understand that this is the preferred location for the external box anyway.

[#7]

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@RealAleMadrid wrote:

However I have seen reports of installations with an internal CSP and ONT mounted in a loft, how customers manage to achieve this I don't know as it is unusual.

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(My bold)

An almost surefire way to achieve this is to pre-install conduit.

Although my ONT is not in the loft, it is in an upstairs room, whilst my CSP is in a utility cupboard downstairs, with the incoming fibre cable entering below the eaves through conduit.

The OR installer who did the second stage (splice, and install ONT) of my 2-stage installation said it was one of the easiest jobs he'd had.

[#8]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Full Fibre to Everything Else

[#9]

@RealAleMadrid 

Do they actually splice the fibre?

Our City Fibre installation was all done with pre-terminated fibres.

They measured the distance between their cabinet and the CSP and told me that they had a selection of fibres in 25metre increments, the excess was just wrapped up in the CSP.

[#10]

@knowdice  From what I have seen on various forums and websites Openreach FTTP installations use a fusion splicer to connect the external fibre to the fibre running into the premises. The name of the external box is a customer splice point so that seems to confirm it.

Alt net suppliers may use other methods.

[#11]

@knowdice 

So that's why a CityFibre bloke was walking up my street the otherweek with a measuring wheel.

Unless they drill a hole big enough in a property for a pre connected cable to pass through then a fibre splice is equired. I, for one, cannot see the situation where, say if a 26m cable is required they use a 50m cable and coil 24m up in the CSP.

Brian

[#12]

I moved to Zen who use CityFibre around here (they can offer cheaper prices compared with their offerings on the Openreach network) and CF do indeed use a pre-terminated fibre cable (supplied in lenghts in increments of 25m.) to connect their cabinet to the CSP. The pretermination is only about 3mm square in section and about 20mm long. See the attached image of an example of a  City Fibre CSP. The brown mini duct carries the fibre from the CSP and the white cable goes to the ONT.

They blew the cable from the CSP to the cabinet, through their mini ducting, and coiled the excess inside the CSP which is designed to allow that to be done.  In my case they must have coiled up around 10 metres out of a cable of 125 metres if I recall correctly. They then connect the CSP to the ONT inside the house using a cable with the plug for the ONT at one end and a termination at the CSP end. The small hole they drill through the wall (about 5 or 6 mm. is adequate to allow the preterminated end (protected with some tape and taped to a long slim drill bit or similar) to pass through the wall from inside to outside.

[#13]

@jgb 

Does the CityFibre CSP come in 3 parts - the base, a working shelf and a protective cover?

Age may be getting to me but I "see" blue cable coiled up near the top. Most of the cable appears covered up.

As they are blowing fibre through ducts it doesn't have a protective cover so more can be coilded up. I assume the preconnected end is blown through.

Brian

[#14]

The CSP I have is slightly different and brown. I only ever saw it with the base and working shelf connected but I assume they must come apart to allow the fibre to be coiled up although there is some provision for that around the working shelf if only a small amount is to be coiled.

You are correct the blue cable in that picture is the incoming fibre cable from the CSP delivered via the brown mini-trunking you can see emerging from below the old BT box . The blue cable is coiled behind the working platform and emerges to be plugged into the connection block. In my case CF came soon after I ordered my Zen connection and installed purple mini trunking through my existing 50mm telephone duct to the manhole and connected that to a preinstalled mini duct back to the cabinet (CF laid all that ducting a few months previously). (All CF trunking hereabouts is purple to distinguish it from the Openreach and YouFibre ducts etc. in the same manholes} They capped off that purple mini -duct at ground level. They did this at that time to ensure that if there were any issues with a blocked or congested duct it could be addressed before installation date. 

On installation day they fitted the ONT where I wanted it and connected a length of brown mini-trunking (more in keeping with the brickwork!) to the purple and ran that brown mini-trunking to the location of the CSP. They drilled the wall and fed the white cable from the inside to outside. The white cable is terminated to suit the ONT at one end and the CSP at the other.

Both ends of the fibre cable that goes from the CSP to the cabinet are preterminated. They blew that from the CSP to the cabinet and connected it there. I think that the cabinet connection is similar to that in the CSP. They connected the incoming fibre to the connection block in the CSP, coiling the excess fibre in the CSP, and connected the white fibre cable from the ONT to the connection block in the CSP sealing the exterior of the wall with silicon (the hole was behind the CSP) and fitting a cover to the inside of the wall. All very neat and done in about an hour.

[#15]

@bmc 

I will check on Friday as I have another Cityfibre install then.

But as far as I'm aware, yes they will roll up the excess 24m in the back of the CSP. They blow a single fibre from the CSP to their cabinet, I think it has a cover over the polished end, will try and get a picture.

It's all plug and play 😎

The only cutting and polishing is the backbone multifibre cable that goes into their cabinet.